


shadows on my wall

by jetplane



Series: Whumptober 2020 [24]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Spencer Reid Whump, Stalking, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:26:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27257905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jetplane/pseuds/jetplane
Summary: Reid, who is not yet part of the BAU, reaches out to Gideon for help with a stalker.prompt: you're not making any sense (day 24)
Relationships: Jason Gideon & Spencer Reid
Series: Whumptober 2020 [24]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1946050
Comments: 14
Kudos: 76
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	shadows on my wall

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, so if you're wondering why I went radio silent in the middle of Whumptober...it's because my brain thought it would be a good idea to try to finish a fic that's four times longer than my other one-shots and now I'm even further behind than before. But I'm still aiming to finish with thirty-one stories at the end of the month, so we'll see how that goes!
> 
> content warnings in endnotes

Jason Gideon was used to three am wake-up calls. What he wasn’t used to was hearing the nearly incomprehensible babbling of what sounded like a teenage boy on the other end of the line. The agent had a mind to hang up before something in his half-asleep brain clicked. “Spencer?”

The teenager on the other end let out a sigh of relief. “Oh! Agent Gideon! Thank you so much for picking up; I know it’s late but I didn’t know who else to call and I thought-”

“Spencer, slow down,” Gideon told him. “Take a deep breath and then tell me what’s going on.”

“There’s somebody - there’s somebody following me. I don’t know who they are or what they want but it just started and I’m - I’m scared, Agent Gideon.”

Jason frowned as he climbed out of bed and turned on the lights in his bedroom. Although he had known Reid for only a short time, he’d immediately been impressed by his abilities. If Reid was concerned about something, it was likely there was something to be concerned about. “Are you somewhere safe right now?”

“I - I’m not sure,” the boy stammered. “I’m in my apartment; I don’t think anyone’s here now but--”

“Spencer,” Gideon interrupted again. He pressed the button for the speakerphone and set his cell on his nightstand as he started to get dressed. “Have you gone to the police yet?”

“I tried, but they wouldn’t listen. They said I don’t have evidence of a crime, but I know, Agent Gideon. There’s someone after me and if you don’t help-”

“I’ll help.” Gideon had heard enough. He’d seen too many stalker cases end in tragedy, and he couldn’t let the same thing happen to this young man. “Spencer, listen. I’m going to call the field office in Los Angeles and tell them that they need to start looking into your case. They’ll figure out what’s going on, I promise.”

“Okay,” Reid squeaked.

“I’m also going to tell them to assign you a protective detail,” the agent said. “You’ll have an agent with you at all times. And they’ll keep me in the loop every step of the way.”

“You’re - you’re not coming?” Reid asked.

“I can’t, Spencer,” Gideon said. “My team hasn’t been-” His eyes landed on the framed photo of Stephen he kept on his dresser. The two were almost the same age. If Stephen were in the same position, he’d want to know that everything possible was being done to keep him safe. “Actually, forget that. I’ll be there.”

“You’ll help?” The teenager sounded close to tears.

“I will, kiddo,” Gideon promised. “Just hold on. Everything’s going to be alright.”

-

On the jet, Gideon wasted no time in getting started. “We have a stalker case in Pasadena, California,” he explained.

“How many bodies?” Morgan interrupted.

“None yet. I’d like to keep it that way,” Jason replied a little shortly.

“Wait, so this is a single stalker? I didn’t know we did those.”

“The victim is nineteen-year-old Dr. Spencer Reid,” the older agent continued as if no one had spoken. “He just completed a Ph.D. in chemistry at the California Institute of Technology.”

“Wait. This is _the_ kid, isn’t it?” Derek asked. When Gideon gave him a questioning look, he continued. “The genius you wanted to fast-track into the BAU. I thought you were exaggerating when you said he was young.”

Gideon shook his head. “He’s only nineteen, but he has the most brilliant mind I’ve ever seen. When he called, I knew that he needed our help.”

Hotch frowned. “Where are the police reports?” he asked. Other than a photo and a short bio of Spencer, he hadn’t seen a single sheet of paperwork. Usually, the team was drowning in the stuff.

“Local police turned him down due to a lack of evidence,” Gideon replied. “So we’ll be starting from scratch when we land.”

“Hold up. If there’s no evidence, how do we know he even has a stalker?” Morgan asked. “And even if he does have a stalker, aren’t most of them pretty passive? Just tell the kid to change his locks and not take candy from any strangers.”

JJ glared at him. “You know how hard it is to get evidence for a single-stalker case,” she chided. “Usually police don’t take them seriously until it’s too late.”

“I trust Dr. Reid’s judgment. If he says that he’s in a dangerous situation, I believe him,” Gideon said firmly. “And you should, too.”

-

The agents in California seemed just a little too happy to see the BAU. “Agent Gideon, good to see you,” greeted a man Gideon vaguely remembered speaking to over the phone. “Mr. Reid is in the conference room; he’s all yours.”

Hotch caught the relief in his tone, and it put him on edge. “How’s he been?”

“We tried to tell him to stay home with his protective detail, but he insisted on coming into the precinct. Ever since then, he’s been talking my officers’ ears off listing every person he’s ever come into contact with.”

“Do you have any leads?” Gideon asked, peering through a window to catch a glimpse of Spencer.

“With all due respect, Agent, we don’t even have a case,” the man replied. “The kid says a few of his things have gone missing at work and sometimes he hears footsteps or sees a car drive away. There’s nothing to show that he’s any different than the dozens of people who show up at the precinct every day shouting for someone to pay attention to them.”

“Except your victim has an IQ of 187 and an eidetic memory,” Jason replied. “He’s not the attention-seeking type. I would advise you to take this case a little more seriously, Officer.” And with that, he stormed off.

He found Reid pacing in the conference room just as promised. The teen’s face lit up the moment he saw Jason. “Agent Gideon. You came?”

Gideon nodded and flashed a rare smile. “Didn’t I tell you I was coming?”

He reached out to pat Reid’s arm but the genius pulled away. “I thought you might be lying to me,” he muttered, looking around distrustfully. “Like the officers here. They say they believe me but I don’t think they do.”

“Well, we’re here to help now,” Hotch interjected. He and the rest of the team entered the room. “I’m Agent Hotchner. Gideon has told us quite a bit about you.” Seeing the boy’s worried expression, he quickly continued. “He thinks you could be a good fit for the BAU.”

“I think I could be a good fit for the BAU, too,” Spencer replied. “But - but first you’ll help me? Agent Gideon said you would help?”

“Of course,” JJ said from behind Gideon. Reid seemed to relax slightly when he saw JJ’s genuine expression. “We’ll get started right away.”

They sat around the conference room similarly to how they would back home, with Spencer finding a spot at Gideon’s right hand. He spun in his chair as he started to explain what had happened to him.

It had started with a feeling that someone was watching him, which the young genius had initially shrugged off. But then he started to hear footsteps when he walked alone late at night. His bicycle started turning up unlocked in the morning even though he was sure he’d secured it properly the night before. At work, papers seemed to go missing every time he left the laboratory for more than a few minutes. Multiple times, his experiments had been sabotaged, causing weeks of work to go to waste. He’d gone to the police twice in the past week, citing other small incidents, but no one had taken him seriously.

“Who could have access to your lab?” JJ asked.

Reid shrugged. “Only a few people have keys, but the door is old. Sometimes the lock doesn’t work.”

“So anyone could get in,” Morgan summarized. “How do you know someone isn’t just some undergrad messing around in the lab?”

“Because there’s someone following me all the time, not just at work,” Spencer snapped, glaring at the much stronger agent. “I’ve been hearing and seeing things, alright? I’m not crazy.”

Gideon placed his hand on Spencer’s arm. “Nobody here thinks you’re crazy,” he said. “We’re going to discuss what you’ve told us and put together a profile, okay? Maybe you and JJ can get a cup of coffee while we talk.”

“Actually…” Reid fidgeted with Gideon’s pen which he had somehow acquired during the conversation. “I know it’s probably not allowed, but do you think I could stay here? I’ll be quiet, I promise, I just - I just really want to know what’s going on.”

“Alright,” Jason conceded, ignoring the looks the rest of the team gave him. “Let’s begin.”

-

Surprisingly enough, the profile took less time to build with Reid in the room. Sure, the kid loved to interrupt the middle of everyone’s sentences to blurt out obscure facts, but most of them were at least marginally useful. And even without much formal training, Spencer’s instincts when it came to profiling were impressive. It didn’t take long for all of the profilers to begrudgingly realize that Gideon had been right. Spencer truly was a genius and they’d be lucky to have him in the BAU.

What was less clear was who they were looking for. They decided that the unsub must be involved in the Caltech community in one way or another, but they couldn’t figure out much more than that. The motive didn’t seem romantic or sexual, especially considering the genius had no jilted ex-lovers or former friends to suspect. The unsub might have had a personal grudge, but even Gideon had to admit that a rival of Spencer’s could easily have done far worse than knock over a beaker or steal a couple of pages of his notes.

Gideon decided to take Morgan with him to interview Spencer’s friends and colleagues at Caltech, while Hotch and JJ went to his apartment building to speak with his neighbors. They peered into Spencer’s lab, which looked exactly as expected, before finding his doctoral advisor in her office.

Morgan knocked on the door. “Dr. Marks?”

“Come in,” a voice called. Inside the office is a well-dressed white woman who looked to be in her late forties or early fifties.

“Dr. Marks, I’m SSA Jason Gideon with the FBI. This is SSA Derek Morgan.” Gideon held up his badge and Morgan followed.

“FBI?” Dr. Marks asked, leaning back in her chair. “What is this about?”

“We’d like to talk to you about one of your Ph.D. students, Spencer Reid.”

“Spencer? Did something happen to him?” The professor looked genuinely worried at the mention of Reid’s name.

“He’s fine,” Morgan assured her. He paused to gauge her reaction. “Is there any reason in particular you’d think he might get into trouble? Maybe a grudge against one of his classmates or another professor here?”

Marks shook her head. “No, Spencer is a good kid. Everyone in the department tries to look after him. Because he’s so young.” She tapped her pen against her desk a few times. “Is this about the person who’s been following him?”

Gideon frowned. “What do you know about that?” he asked carefully.

“About a week or two ago, he started telling everyone that the lab wasn’t safe; that there was someone following him and messing with his work,” she replied. “I wasn’t sure if that was really happening.”

“Are you saying you thought he was lying?” Morgan questioned.

The professor shook her head again. “I don’t think Spencer would lie. But he has seemed a little disorganized lately. Most of the other students think he’s just misplacing things or forgetting about them, and I’m inclined to agree.”

“Having a stalker could easily make a person unfocused,” Derek pointed out.

“That is true. But there’s a camera in the hallway to the lab, and it hasn’t caught anyone who shouldn’t be there. We asked maintenance to check all the doors in the building, and the locks work fine when you use your keys correctly.” Dr. Marks shrugged. “I’m a woman of science. I have no evidence that someone is following Spencer. But I also have no evidence that he’s making things up, either.”

Gideon frowned. “And you’re sure there’s no one who might have a reason to be upset with him? Maybe a jealous student or former student?”

Marks shrugged. “As far as I know, there’s no one.”

“Well, thank you for your time.” Jason placed his business card down on her desk and scribbled his personal cell phone number on the back of it before handing it to her. “If you become aware of any new information, please give me a call,” he instructed. “No detail is too small for us.”

The pair left the professor’s office in silence and didn’t say a word all the way to the address Reid had given him, a small apartment near campus. “Ethan Jones?” Morgan called out, pounding on the door.

It swung open almost immediately to reveal a dark-haired man in his early twenties. His eyes widened when he saw the people standing in front of him. “You’re - you’re Agent Gideon, aren’t you?” he asked in confusion. “I went to all your lectures back-”

“Back in March. I remember.” Other than Reid, the student had been by far the youngest in his audience. He’d seen them together multiple times both on- and off-campus, and they’d appeared to be pretty close friends. “May we come in?”

“Uh…” Ethan hesitated. “What’s going on?”

“We’d like to talk about a friend of yours. Spencer Reid.”

The young man’s eyes widened. “Oh, God, no,” he breathed, putting a hand to his forehead and running it down his cheek. “He told me that someone was following him and I - I told him he was just imagining things. I didn’t think - I didn’t think he was actually-”

“Mr. Jones, Spencer’s not dead,” Morgan interrupted. “That’s not why we’re here.”

Ethan let out a gasp. “Oh! Thank God. When you said you wanted to come in, I thought - I thought you were going to tell me that he was dead. He’s okay?”

“We just spoke to him. He’s perfectly safe,” Derek replied. “But we’d still like to talk to you.”

“Okay.” Ethan’s obvious relief morphed into confusion once again. “Yeah, come in. Definitely.” He stepped back, letting the agents into his living room and motioning for them to sit.

“So, Spencer told you that someone was following him?” Morgan asked. “Can you tell us more about that?”

The younger man tapped his thumbs together. “Yeah, uh, a couple of weeks ago he started telling me that he was having weird things happen to his stuff. His bike was left unlocked a couple of times and his phone was moved, things like that. There were no actual signs of things happening, you know? And every time he told me he was hearing footsteps or voices, I swear I couldn’t hear a thing.” Ethan shook his head. “I started driving him to and from work every day because he said it made him feel safer. But last Monday, I was running, like, five minutes late and Spencer - he completely flipped out. He yelled at me, asking if I was trying to get him killed and other things like that.”

Morgan frowned. “Do you two get into a lot of fights like that?”

“No. Never,” Ethan insisted. “I’d never seen him that angry before. I tried calling him a million times, but he never picked up.”

“Weren’t you worried that something could have happened to him?”

“I went to his apartment an hour later. He told me to go to hell,” Ethan replied. “So, not really. I knew he was fine. But it was pretty clear he didn’t want to talk to me, so I gave him space to sort out his shit.”

“So you didn’t think there was a credible threat,” Gideon summarized. Ethan nodded. “Do you think Spencer was lying to you?”

Ethan shrugged. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I’ve been thinking about him all week and I can’t figure out what’s going on with him. Because I really don’t think he has a stalker.”

Just then Jason’s phone rang. He looked at the caller ID, then showed the screen to Morgan. “Can you excuse us for a moment?” The young man nodded, and both agents stepped outside.

“Hotch, what is it?” Gideon asked when they were safely out of earshot.

“We just finished talking to everyone on Spencer’s floor, and they’ve been telling us something weird.”

“Weird how?” Morgan asked.

“They’re all saying that nothing’s been happening. Spencer’s been talking to his neighbors, asking them about people he’s been hearing in the hallway, but no one else has seen or heard anything. One woman told us that she heard what sounded like an argument coming from Spencer’s apartment the other night, but she was sure he was alone in there,” JJ reported.

“So you didn’t get any evidence?” Derek asked.

“No. Did you find anything?”

“Spencer’s doctoral advisor said there are cameras near his lab that haven’t seen anyone,” Morgan said. “And remember what he told us about the lock being broken? She claims that’s not true. We’re at the house of one of his friends, and he says the kid’s been acting weird lately.”

“Look, I hate to ask,” JJ said tentatively. “But do we still really think there’s a case?”

“Dr. Reid told us he had a case,” Gideon replied. “You saw him in the briefing room. He’s _talented_.”

“Being a genius doesn’t mean he can’t be paranoid,” Hotch countered. “Gideon, I know you like this kid, but-”

“I’m not willing to take the risk that we’re wrong,” Jason stated. “If you’re done with the apartment building, go back to the precinct. We’ll regroup in an hour.” He ended the call and went back into Ethan’s apartment, where he gave the young man another business card with his personal number on it and instructed him to call back if he remembered anything else.

Gideon and Morgan were almost back to the station when the phone rang again. This time, Morgan picked it up. “JJ, I’m here with Gideon in the car.”

“We’re back at the station. I asked one of the technical analysts back at Quantico to look into Reid’s records,” Hotch explained.

“You did what?” Gideon asked. “Hotch, I didn’t-”

“Gideon, did you know that his mom has been committed to multiple psychiatric institutions, including a place called Bennington Sanitarium where she’s lived for the past year and a half?”

Jason shook his head despite knowing that Hotch couldn’t see him. “No, I didn’t. But I don’t see what that has to do with the case.”

“She has schizophrenia, Gideon,” JJ said. “Spence was the one who had her committed.”

“What are you saying?” the older agent asked.

“Schizophrenia can be hereditary,” she said. “Thinking that someone’s out to get you is one of the most common delusions in schizophrenic patients, who usually have their first mental break in their teens or twenties.”

“Just because his mom has schizophrenia doesn’t mean that he does,” Gideon replied. “All of this is circumstantial at best.”

Hotch sighed audibly. “We found something else, too. When Spencer was eighteen, he participated in a study run by a prominent geneticist named Mary Donovan. It showed that he had three different mutations in his twenty-second chromosome that are closely associated with schizophrenia.” He paused. “Gideon, based on everything we’ve seen...he should be in a hospital.”

Gideon was silent for a long time. Morgan couldn’t read his expression. Finally, he swallowed hard and nodded. “I think you’re right,” he replied in a tight voice. “I - I should be the one to talk to him.”

“Gideon, you don’t have to do that,” Aaron protested. “JJ and I are already here; we can do it. JJ’s calling for an ambulance to stand by right now.”

“No, I want to be there. He trusts me,” Jason insisted. He turned the corner into the station parking lot. “We’re at the precinct now.” With shaking hands, Gideon turned off the engine. For a minute, he just sat in the driver’s seat. He wasn’t sure who he was protecting, himself or his student. But eventually, he worked up the courage to go inside. The agent didn’t even make it through the lobby.

“Agent Gideon, I realized something!” Reid’s eyes were bright and his cheeks flushed as if he’d just been running. Hotch and JJ followed a few feet behind. “The person watching me - I know who it is!”

“Spencer,” JJ began gently. She tried to touch his shoulder from behind but was swatted away.

“It’s my dad! He left when I was a kid and I didn’t think he was still around but he - he must have moved because-”

“Spence,” JJ said more firmly. “We know about your mom.”

“My mom?” Reid frowned and turned to look at her. “What does my mom have to do with anything?” He shook his head quickly as if resetting his brain. “Okay, so his name is William Jeffrey Reid and he was born on-”

“Spencer.” Gideon’s voice was firm enough to draw his attention. “We know your mom is sick.” The boy stared at him with wide eyes. “She has schizophrenia, right?”

Reid’s frown deepened. “Yes,” he finally admitted, head drooping slightly. “She does.”

“Spence, we talked to your neighbors, your advisor, your friends, everyone,” JJ said softly. “They’re all saying...what you told us isn’t true. They think you’ve been leaving things in the wrong places, hearing things that aren’t-”

“No,” Reid interjected. “Not you, too.” He turned to Gideon. “Please, Agent Gideon. You know I’m not lying. I would never lie to you.”

Jason felt sick. “I know you wouldn’t. But Spencer, what you’ve been describing to us is consistent with a schizophrenic break.”

Reid stepped back, shaking his head violently. “No,” he insisted. “No, I’m not crazy. I’m not crazy; there’s really someone watching me and I need - I need you to help me get rid of them.” He backed up more, looking around him like he was worried the walls were going to close in around him. Tears welled up in JJ’s eyes as she saw the genuine fear in his eyes. He truly thought that someone was out to get him.

“Spence, I know this is hard to hear. But you know the symptoms of schizophrenia, right?” JJ asked in a quiet voice. “Can you tell us what they are?”

“Schizophrenia is a long-term mental disorder of a type involving a breakdown in the relation between thought, emotion, and behavior,” he replied automatically, seeming to calm down as he recited the fact. “It can lead to faulty perception, inappropriate actions and feelings, withdrawal from reality and personal relationships into fantasy and delusion, and a sense of mental fragmentation.” Reid shook his head again. “That’s not me. Everything I’ve told you - it’s real. I know it is.”

“I know it feels real,” Gideon said gently. “But look at me, Spencer. Do you trust me?”

The genius’s eyes darted from the floor to Gideon’s face and back again. “Yes,” he finally whispered. He’d backed himself into a wall and was now pressed flat up against it, increasing the trapped-animal energy he gave off. “Yes, I trust you.”

“Then I need you to believe me when I tell you that what you’re experiencing isn’t consistent with reality. Your brain is telling you things that aren’t true. But we can get you help for that.”

“No,” Spencer protested weakly, wrapping his arms around his body for comfort. Tears threatened to spill from underneath his eyelids, but he fought to keep them at bay. “No, you’re wrong.”

“All the evidence is there, Spencer,” Jason said compassionately. “I know you don’t want to believe it, but deep down, you know I’m right. You’ve known the signs all along.”

“No.” His voice was barely audible by this point. “No, I don’t want-” Spencer’s voice cracked as a sob broke through. Back to the wall, he slid down until he was crunched into a ball on the floor. “I didn’t want this to happen. It’s not - it’s not fair.”

Gideon crouched down to the boy’s level. “I’m really sorry, Spencer. I know it isn’t fair.” He stroked Reid’s hair. “But it’s going to get better, I promise. We’re going to take you to some doctors who can help, and they’ll figure out a way to make things better.”

Reid sniffled and wiped a tear away with the back of his hand. “I’m scared, Agent Gideon,” he whispered.

“I know you are. But it’s going to be okay.” Jason took advantage of Spencer’s position on the floor to position one hand on his back and one hand under his knees. “I’ve got you.” He took the boy’s weak nod as a response and gently lifted him into his arms, Spencer wrapping his arms around Jason’s neck. “Let’s get out of here.”

The rest of the team watched as Gideon carried the shaking, crying teen out of the room. They silently followed him down the hallway and out of the building, where an ambulance was already waiting. He lay Spencer down on a stretcher without fuss and held his hand while a medic started an IV in the boy’s left arm. Another tear rolled down Reid’s cheek as the needle pierced his skin, and JJ had to turn away to hide tears of her own. When she made eye contact with Morgan, she could tell she wasn’t alone. The dark-skinned agent looked equally upset as he watched the ambulance doors close on Spencer and their unit chief.

-

Spencer was quiet in the emergency room. Even as Gideon fought with the hospital workers to get the teenager admitted sooner, he barely seemed to notice. Finally, when he had been placed in a room, he spoke. “I’m really sorry, Agent Gideon.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” Gideon replied compassionately.

“I just - I just really thought it was real,” Spencer continued. “I know what delusions are. But I never thought...”

Jason held Reid’s hand. “I know. It’s not your fault.”

The boy laid his head back in bed, gaze pointed upward. “They’re going to take me to the psychiatric wing soon,” he said quietly.

“Does that make you feel scared?” Gideon asked gently.

“More sad than scared,” he admitted. He frowned. “I know that’s where I need to be because I’m sick and I don’t want to be.”

“You’re going to get better, Spencer.”

Reid nodded before turning his thoughtful eyes to the agent at his bedside. “But I’m not going to the Academy, am I?”

Jason stared at his lap. “No,” he finally replied, feeling a knife twist in his gut. “I don’t think you are. Not because I don’t think you can, but...”

Spencer dropped his head back onto his pillow and closed his eyes. “That’s what I thought,” he muttered.

A nurse arrived just then. “Mr. Reid?” she asked.

“Dr. Reid,” Gideon corrected quietly. “He has a Ph.D. in chemistry.”

She blinked in surprise but quickly recovered. “Of course,” she said. “Dr. Reid, there’s a room waiting for you on our psychiatric floor. Is it alright if we take you now?” An orderly stood on either side of her at a respectful distance.

Spencer looked to Gideon, who nodded encouragingly. “I - I’m ready to go.”

The nurse motioned for the orderlies to step forward, and they started to unlock the brakes on Reid’s hospital bed. “The psychiatric unit has a no-visitors policy,” she said. “You’ll have to say goodbye to your father here.”

“I-” Gideon started, then stopped. He shook his head and squeezed Reid’s hand. “Are you going to be okay?”

“I think so.” His fingers lingered on Jason’s, then pulled away as his bed started moving. Just as they reached the doorway, Reid stilled. “Wait!” Both orderlies immediately stopped. The young man turned around to look back inside the room. “Agent Gideon?” he asked.

“What is it, Spencer?” The agent frowned with concern.

“I know you don’t know me that well and - and you have your job, but will you - do you think you could visit me?” His eyes were impossibly big. “Please.”

Jason forced a smile. “Of course, kid,” he promised. “I’m really proud of you, Spencer.”

Reid returned his smile with watery eyes. “Thank you, Agent Gideon.” He turned back to the orderlies. “I’m ready to go now. Thank you.”

**Author's Note:**

> content warnings: hallucinations/delusions, schizophrenia, discussion of a stalker, and mentions of psychiatric hospitalization
> 
>  _all day, staring at the ceiling  
>  making friends with shadows on my wall  
> all night, hearing voices telling me  
> that I should get some sleep  
> because tomorrow might be good for something  
> hold on, feeling like I'm heading for a breakdown  
> and I don't know why_  
> \- "Unwell" by Matchbox Twenty


End file.
